Many faces

"Trombonist, composer and producer Justin Thurgur steps into the limelight with this effervescent offering awash with great horns and polyrhythms. Opener "Be A Little Wiser" fronted by the lively Sahra Gure exemplifies this magnificently, featuring Afro reggae blessedness with a superb jazzy guitar solo and Thurgur's slide taking centre stage. Lush Latin loveliness gets a look in too, with the Fania-inspired "The Reeducation Of Mr Otheralisation" adding spice and excitement to proceedings and glued together with a stonking montuno, courtesy of Afrobeat heavyweight Dele Sosimi. Talking about Afrobeat, the seductive "How It Is" is a highlight, as it switches moods subtly. That mood gets deeper with "Woman", fronted by the smokey-sounding Jade Pybus - both these guest female vocalists are so distinctive. A little spiritual jazz with funkified groove plateau [comes] in the shape of "The Reality Of Reality" ... Essentially, this album has a real touch of class".

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"[Trombonist Justin Thurgur] plays contemporary English folk music with the band Bellowhead and Afrobeat with the Afrobeat Orchestra, the ensemble led by keyboard player Dele Sosimi, a childhood protégé of Fela Kuti ... The music [here] is sunny, upbeat, funk-infused dance music played with a jazz sensibility, and the band features outstanding soloists ... Jazz began life as dance music and albums such as Many Faces demonstrate that it is possible to make music that moves listeners to shake a leg while also addressing the head and heart. A perfect soundtrack for what hopefully will be a long hot 2022 summer".

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"Collaboration is lifeblood to Thurgur, whose work in the English folk collective Bellowhead is well known; he's been a session player with leading lights including Cuban percussionist Giraldo Piloto and the late Tony Allen. This means, of course, that Thurgur's considerable talents as both player and composer sometimes tend to be overlooked. Thankfully, there's little chance of that here: each of the album's six long-playing tracks has been written or co-written by Thurgur, whose dance-loving jazz leanings are especially evident on the Afrobeat-infused 'The Reality of the Reality' and his very own all-stops-out 'How It Is', and whose solos - standouts in a starry line-up including horn player Graeme Flowers and congueros Oreste Noda and Afla Sackey - reveal chops both powerful and nuanced. Summer just got better".